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by meevees



Series: digirim [2]
Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Mecha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 22:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6396340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meevees/pseuds/meevees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After years of having nowhere to belong, Yamato finds a new home. [Pacific Rim crossover AU]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home

They say that home is where the heart is, but Yamato’s heart had been torn in two along with his family when his parents divorced, and he’d never managed to put the pieces back together.

 

Not that Yamato felt like he didn’t belong with his family. He was happy living with his father as a kid. Even the odd weekend at his mother’s home now and again was nice, despite all of the things left unsaid that always hung heavy in the air between them. But it never quite came to feel _right_ , not the way it had when they’d all been together in Hikarigaoka.

 

People often worried over him, how he must get so lonely staying at home alone while his father worked such a busy schedule, how it must have been so hard to get such precious little time to spend with his younger brother. But Yamato still felt lonely even when he was surrounded by people, and he only felt the distance between himself and Takeru grow larger each time they finally saw each other again. Their absence wasn’t the problem, really. Something inside of Yamato was broken, and he’d long since given up on trying to fix it.

 

Then he’d drifted with Taichi, and the hole in Yamato’s heart that had been so long left unrepaired was filled up again. Yamato had found the missing piece of himself within another person. And he’d finally found a new home, of all places, in the cockpit of a 75 meter tall, monster fighting robot.

 

As someone who had spent most of his life detached from the people around him, Yamato was loath to admit (to anyone except for Taichi, whom he couldn’t help but admit everything about himself to) that he had grown attached to a 2,000 ton mass of metal and gadgetry. But Warrior Omega had become a part of him as much as Taichi had.

 

There was little point to admitting to it anyway, since a person who had never piloted a Jaeger, had never been in the drift, could never possibly understand.

 

Besides, the connection he had with his Jaeger made Yamato’s job that much easier. Most people would say a Jaeger was only as good as its pilots, and while that was mostly true, Yamato knew there was more to it than that. He couldn’t have just gotten into any other Jaeger and piloted it with the finesse he did _his_ Jaeger. When drifting he and Taichi did their part, and Warrior Omega did hers. Yamato trusted her.

 

Of course, it also made the aftermath of his job that much harder. The kaiju were getting tougher and smarter with every appearance, and the PPDC was losing Jaegers rapidly. Warrior Omega had become a part of him, inside her hull the one place he felt truly at home, even as he was risking his life. He couldn’t stand to lose that.

 

“Yamato, what brings you all the way over here?”

 

Sora, one of the Jaeger mechanics stationed at the Tokyo Shatterdome, called him out of his thoughts. Her red hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, and she had a streak of grease across her left cheek, but her tone and expression were both warm and inviting.

 

Taichi had known Sora growing up, so in a way Yamato knew her, too. For example, he knew that Sora had once dreamed of being a Jaeger pilot along with Taichi rather than the mechanic that she had ultimately become, and that she had a rocky relationship with her mother. It was awkward sometimes, knowing these things, because it felt rather like Yamato knew secrets of Sora’s that she’d never agreed to share with him, and he could not offer the same in return. Still, Yamato liked Sora and, besides Taichi, she was one of the only people around the Shatterdome he really felt comfortable with, would probably even consider a friend. She was also the person responsible for overseeing any repairs to Warrior Omega, so he was grateful to her for that.

 

“Oh, I was just passing by, so…” There was no logical reason for a pilot to just be wandering by the bay where repairs were done, of course; it was completely out of theway of any part of the Shatterdome where he would be needed or want to spend his free time. But how did he explain that he was just coming to check in on his Jaeger?

 

Sora gave him a knowing smile, and it occurred to Yamato that maybe she knew his secrets better than he gave her credit for. “Well, then, since you’re here anyway, wanna see Omega? She’s coming along.”

 

Yamato took a deep breath and nodded in a way he hoped didn’t convey how eager he was. Sora was still grinning at him like she saw right through the facade, but she didn’t say anything, just turned around to lead the way.

 

Warrior Omega’s recent deployment had been the first one necessary out of Tokyo in quite a while, so the repair hangar was mostly empty, a vast, echoing space with the ceiling towering high above them as they walked.

 

There was one other Jaeger they passed by along the way, but it wasn’t being repaired; it was being built. Yamato stopped to check it out. He’d heard a new Jaeger had been commissioned for Tokyo a while ago, but hadn’t heard much else. It seemed the project had really come a long way since then; it was huge, by far the biggest Jaeger Yamato had ever seen, jet black with red and blue accenting. The chest compartment was open and a huge crew was working on it, welding away at something-or-other. Yamato was admittedly not an expert in how the Jaegers worked or what they were comprised of. That wasn’t his job. He just needed to be able to kick ass in one.

 

“That’s our newest Jaeger,” Sora offered by way of explanation when she saw it had grabbed Yamato’s attention, “A Mark V. She’s supposed to be the most advanced in the whole world.”

 

Yamato continued to observe the Jaeger. It was definitely impressive, but superior technology or not, it was no Warrior Omega. “Heard anything about who’s supposed to pilot it? There’s this new kid at the academy everybody’s talking about–Ichijouji, I think–who’s apparently incredible. His simulator scores have blown every record off the charts. I bet he’s in the running.”

 

“That’s a secret,” Sora replied with a wink, holding her index finger over her lips to further illustrate her point, “If anyone asks, you didn’t see her at all, ok?”

 

It felt like the first time Sora had confided in him willingly, and Yamato couldn’t help but smile. He nodded, “Don’t worry. I won’t even tell Taichi.”

 

“Oh, I’m not worried.” Sora smiled. Neither of them said anything else for the rest of their walk. It was another thing Yamato really liked about Sora, that she could appreciate the value of a companionable silence. It was a point he hadn’t even gotten through to Taichi yet, although most of the time he and Taichi didn’t even need to speak to communicate, anyway.

 

“Here we are.” Sora reported when they finally arrived at the hangar which housed Warrior Omega.

 

Warrior Omega was coming along from the state she’d been in right after she’d seen combat, but she was still looking worse for the wear. The Jaegers always went in for repairs after they were deployed for small realignments at the least, although it was rare that a Jaeger would walk away from a combat mission with no damage at all, and they almost inevitably sustained significant damage after taking on a kaiju. Yamato and Taichi’s last fight had been a particularly nasty one, though. The kaiju they’d been up against had been able to spit acid, which had eaten away at Warrior Omega’s hull, but blessfully hadn’t been potent enough to destroy any of her mechanisms or let in water. Worst of all, though, her left arm had been completely torn up by the kaiju’s massive claws, three vicious gashes cut deep into the limb. Yamato had felt the pain of the attack like it was his own arm, but even that had been nothing compared to Taichi, who was primarily responsible for controlling the Jaeger’s left hemisphere and had truly taken the full force of the attack. He’d been nearly a week in the infirmary, and already had the beginnings of a brutal scar to show for his trouble.

 

But it was hardly the first scar either of them had gotten. And they’d managed to bag their fifth kill with that kaiju.

 

Sora and her crew had repaired or replaced most of the damaged sections of Warrior Omega’s hull, but work had not yet begun to restore the destroyed limb. Taichi and Yamato were not being deployed again anytime soon, that much was certain. But as long as the three of them had survived to see the next fight, Yamato was okay.

 

He and Sora still hadn’t said anything else, and Yamato was in no real hurry to break the silence. But he turned his reverent gaze away from Warrior Omega and back to Sora, who he realized was smiling kindly at him.

 

Now it was Sora’s turn to gaze up at the Jaeger, “You know, Mimi, the girl who helps run most of the repairs with me–”

 

Yamato grinned. He knew exactly who Sora was talking about, “The one who’s always giving Taichi a hard time, right?”

 

Sora giggled, “Mmhmm. She just wishes Taichi would be less reckless in the Conn-Pod, is all.”

 

“Well that makes two of us.” But really, that was why Taichi and Yamato worked so well as a team. Taichi was impulsive while Yamato was cautious. The contrast created a perfect balance, a sort of push and pull between them.

 

“Mimi just hates to see the Jaegers hurt, that’s why she’s so stern about it.”

 

Yamato considered the odd statement for a moment before he responded, “You mean damaged?”

 

“Not to Mimi,” Sora shook her head, “She treats the Jaegers like they’re alive. She’s very protective of them.”

 

Yamato was silent. Sora was looking at him again and he turned away, unable to hold her gaze. There was an opportunity for him to open up to her right now, and he knew Sora could feel it too. He wondered why he shouldn’t say something. If he couldn’t talk to Sora, there certainly wasn’t anyone else he could. But no words were coming to him.

 

Apparently done waiting for him to speak up, Sora continued, “A lot of the crew think she’s strange for it, but I can see where she’s coming from. Maybe I’m not as serious about it as Mimi, but when you work with the Jaegers all of the time like we do, it’s hard not to get a little attached, you know?”

 

“Yeah, I know.” Yamato agreed, able to admit that much at least. Somehow he wasn’t so surprised to discover that Sora understood, “Better than you think.”

 

Sora was giving him that knowing smile again, the same one from when she’d caught him strolling through the repairs bay in the first place, but she didn’t try to continue the conversation. “Sorry, Yamato, but I think I’m going to have to kick you out now before you get us both in trouble.”

 

They both laughed lightly, although it wasn’t really a joke. Yamato was well beyond the range of his clearance at this point and it was only a matter of time before someone came along who knew that, but Sora was teasing more than she was pushing him away. Still, it was time for him to go, they both knew. Sora winked at him, and he smiled back, and he knew he wasn’t leaving empty handed. Taichi and Warrior Omega might just not be the only new family Yamato had found in the Shatterdome.

 

“Mm. Thanks, Sora.”

**Author's Note:**

> bleep bloop finally uploading more of my work from this series a million years later


End file.
